KSI: “I Want Dagenham In The Premier League”
YouTube star, entrepreneur and Britain’s Got Talent judge KSI explains why he bought a minority stake in Dagenham & Redbridge, how his global audience can strengthen the club’s business model and why sustainable growth must come before football’s temptation to overspend.
For KSI, football ownership has been an ambition years in the making. Having explored opportunities with clubs across England, it was Dagenham & Redbridge that ultimately provided the right opportunity to make the move. Researching the club and witnessing the passion of its supporters helped convince him that Dagenham was the right fit. A visit to the club further reinforced that belief, while the timing felt right for a new challenge.
“I’ve wanted to own a football club for many, many years,” KSI explains. “Opportunities came up with certain clubs across England, but for whatever reason they didn’t make sense. Then Dagenham & Redbridge came along.”
What began as an exciting project has since developed into a personal commitment. KSI describes his growing emotional connection with the club as a defining part of his ownership experience, with results now carrying a significance that extends well beyond the boardroom.
“It started as an exciting project and has slowly become a heartfelt project. I live and breathe it. I adore everything about Dagenham, and I just want the best all the time,” he says.
“When we win a game and it makes my whole weekend; we lose and I’m depressed for a few days!”
That emotional investment has also brought a firsthand understanding of football’s unpredictability. Reflecting on the previous season, KSI acknowledges the frustration caused by inconsistency, while emphasising the work undertaken over the summer to establish a clearer direction for the club.
“Over the summer, myself and the other owners have worked hard to make sure we have direction and a vision of where we want to get to, and that we’re doing everything we need to do to reach that goal.”
Ambition with financial discipline
The ambition surrounding Dagenham & Redbridge is clear: to return the club to the EFL and, ultimately, pursue a path towards the Premier League. However, KSI recognises that long-term progress requires financial discipline, sound decision-making and a strategy that extends beyond the immediate pursuit of results. In an industry where spending can quickly outpace revenues, he says the ownership group is committed to operating within its means.
“We’ve set ourselves a good budget and we’ll make sure not to go over that. I think, especially in the football industry, it is so easy to overspend and stretch yourself thin.”
For KSI, the club’s commercial potential is closely linked to the visibility he can generate. With around 20m subscribers on his main YouTube channel and over 12m on both Instagram and TikTok, he commands serious attention. Combined with his experience in marketing, entertainment and digital media, he offers Dagenham a route to audiences that might otherwise remain unfamiliar with the club.
“Our biggest advantage is the attention we can bring to the club. Few clubs at this level have access to that kind of reach and visibility has to be built through very hard work and smart tactics.”
He sees that reach as a distinct competitive advantage, but one that must support a broader business strategy rather than serve as an end in itself. Partnerships, including the club’s agreement with DAZN, and the arrival of new sponsors have contributed to the increased commercial activity surrounding the club.
“We haven’t overspent, which is really important because we want to make sure this is a sustainable club,” he adds. KSI’s ambitions are nevertheless considerable. He has made it clear that his vision extends well beyond short-term success, describing ownership as a commitment that could last more than a decade.
“It is probably going to be a 10+ year situation, and I’ve said it several times, I want Dagenham in the Premier League but it’s not going to be easy.”
He acknowledges that reaching that level will require patience, investment and sustained progress, with the responsibility for delivering results ultimately resting on the football operation.
“Now it’s up to the lads, and up to the manager to do the most important job and get the victories and bring the promotions.”
The realities of ownership
The transition into football ownership has already required difficult decisions. Following a challenging period, the club replaced its previous manager with Lee Allinson, while also reorganising elements of its backroom staff to better align with the ownership group’s objectives.
For KSI, these changes are an unavoidable part of building a club with a clear identity and direction. “We’ve already made quite a few tough decisions.,” he said. “We replaced our previous manager and brought in Lee Allinson, who’s done a fantastic job. It’s just part of the game; you have to make difficult decisions.”
His vision, however, is not confined to the team’s performance on the pitch. KSI wants Dagenham & Redbridge to play a wider role in its community, with plans involving charitable initiatives and the regeneration of the area surrounding Victoria Road.
“We’re trying to create a successful football club, but we’re also trying to be more than just that, we’re trying to do things off the pitch, as well as on the pitch – through charity work and building up the surrounding area in Victoria Road.”
The emphasis on planning is central to his approach. Rather than relying on short-term reactions, he says the ownership group is working towards a defined set of goals, while recognising that football results cannot be controlled entirely from the boardroom.
“We have a plan of what we want, where we want to get to, and obviously the football, we can only do so much about that. But we’re doing everything we can outside of that to help us reach where we want to reach.”
Turning attention into opportunity
KSI’s background has provided him with experience in building audiences, creating memorable moments and generating commercial attention. From YouTube and boxing to music and television, his career has been built around engaging people across different platforms.
That experience is now being applied to football, where he sees an opportunity to raise the profile of Dagenham & Redbridge without overwhelming the club’s identity.
“I’d say I’m very good at marketing and very good at making moments, and sometimes it’s all about being smart. You don’t always want to be in people’s faces. It’s all about picking the right moments to make the most impact.”
His approach also involves recognising when to step back. While he is keen to promote the club and attract attention, he understands that ownership requires a balance between visibility and allowing the football operation to do its work.
“That’s where my expertise is and I’m focused on making sure everyone knows about it, especially when things are going well and when things aren’t going well, that’s where I’ll sit more in the background!”
The challenge is to translate that exposure into a lasting commercial and supporter benefit. KSI believes his broad audience, which spans different age groups and interests, could help introduce Dagenham & Redbridge to a new generation of fans.
“Hopefully we’ll bring in a younger audience as well as an older audience to check out Dagenham & Redbridge and become invested and care about it.”
However, he is conscious that attracting attention is only the first step. Building a committed supporter base requires time, consistency and a genuine connection between the club and its audience.
Developing a new generation of supporters
KSI’s relationship with Dagenham’s existing supporters has been an important part of his early ownership experience. He recalls attending matches, including an away fixture at Hornchurch, where he stood alongside the travelling Daggers fans.
Despite the result which ended in defeat for the team, he says the experience reinforced the connection he is developing with the club’s fans and community. “You could tell they [the fans] were frustrated and annoyed, but there was a hint of excitement because I was there. They really appreciated that I was supporting with them.”
That presence, he believes, demonstrates that his involvement is more than a short-term commercial exercise. He wants supporters to see that the ownership group is invested in the club’s future.
“It’s not like I’ve just bought the club, but I’m just going to dip in and out – they can tell I’m very invested.”
Growing the fanbase, however, is not something he expects to happen overnight. KSI wants to encourage people to develop a meaningful relationship with the club, rather than simply follow it because of his own involvement.
“We want them to watch, whether they’re young or old, and then be invested in the story, be invested in the journey and to do that, it takes time.”
He sees that process as key to developing long-term support which will translate into increased season-ticket holders and fans who attend matches consistently. The DAZN partnership provides another avenue for the club to expand its reach.
The broadcast and distribution partnership for the 2026/27 season, signed in August, will significantly enhance the production of their matches across multiple platforms and with the increased visibility, KSI believes the platform can help bring the club to audiences who might not otherwise encounter it.
Whilst it’s still too early to assess the partnership’s full impact, he points to the response to one of his livestreams as an indication of the potential audience.
“On the last livestream that I did we had over 100,000 people watching, which for us is just unbelievable.” He expects that interest to develop gradually, particularly if the team can challenge for promotion.
“It’s going to build bit-by-bit, and by this time next year, or by the end of the season, especially if we’re moving towards the play-offs or automatic promotion – it’s going to be crazy.”
A target of promotion
On the pitch, the immediate objective is to challenge for the play-offs. KSI views that as a clear measure of progress following the previous campaign, while acknowledging the uncertainty that accompanies a long football season.
“Reaching the play-offs is what we want. If we manage to do that, then we’ve performed better than we did last season, which is huge.”
Promotion would represent a significant milestone, but KSI is conscious of the challenges involved. With increased attention on the club, he believes opponents may approach matches against Dagenham with added motivation.
“Of course, every team steps up against us now because all eyes are on us; that’s just naturally how it goes.”
He describes the season as a marathon rather than a sprint, with the emphasis on building consistency and accumulating results over time. “We know in each game anything can happen. It’s not easy but we’re going to try hard to make sure that we get a win, or even a draw, just to try build some form and momentum.”
For KSI, success is ultimately measured through a long-term transformation of the club. While his ambitions extend to the Premier League, he recognises that meaningful progress must be achieved in stages.
Asked where he would like Dagenham & Redbridge to be in five years, he identifies a clear benchmark.
“If we’re at a minimum in League Two in five years’ time, that’s been a success, because for us that would be big.” It is a target that reflects both the scale of his ambition and the realities of the journey ahead. For now, the focus is on building the foundations of a sustainable football club, strengthening its relationship with supporters and creating an environment in which sporting success can develop.
KSI’s involvement has already brought fresh attention to Dagenham & Redbridge. The next stage will be to turn that visibility into lasting value, both on and off the pitch, as the club pursues a future that its ownership believes can extend far beyond its current position.
Images: Joshua Tarn & Getty Images
